Mississippi town at heart of Sinners refused to be left out of the movie's success

The Mississippi town of Clarksdale is, in many ways, the heart and soul of the movie Sinners.

But, until this week, its residents had no way to benefit from the film's massive success at the box office. In fact, many of them couldn't even see it, because the town doesn't have a movie theatre.

That all changed when community members joined forces to organize a local screening of the film, featuring filmmaker Ryan Coogler and other members of the cast and crew.

"We had people from all over the world that came into Clarksdale to experience our culture," business owner Dave Houston, who helped organize the event, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.

"It was a great thing for our city."

Sinners, a blues-infused vampire horror starring Michael B. Jordan and set in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, has grossed $339 million US at the box office so far.

It's set in Clarksdale, a town of roughly 14,000 people in the Mississippi Delta, an area widely known as the "birthplace of blues."

Jordan plays twin brothers hustling to open a juke joint where Black residents can eat, drink, gamble, and most of all, enjoy live music. But they face violent opposition from monstrous villains, both human and supernatural.

"The juke joints still live on in Clarksdale as we speak," Houston said. "So to see that being on a big screen, man, it makes you feel great about your city."

But while Clarksdale is the soul of Sinners, the movie was filmed in neighbouring Louisiana, as Mississippi lacked the necessary infrastructure.

And when Sinners hit theatres, Clarksdale residents who wanted to see their town portrayed on screen had to drive more than 130 kilometres to the nearest cinema in Tennessee.

"To use a likeness of Clarksdale and not acknowledge Clarksdale, that didn't sit well with me," said Brenda Luckett, a retired teacher, historian, and local tour guide.

As Sinners generated more and more buzz, Houston couldn't let this opportunity to shine a light on Clarksdale slip by.

He teamed up with community organizer Tyler Yarbrough, who wrote an open letter and petition addressed to Coogler, Jordan and the rest of the film's cast and crew, inviting them to collaborate on a public screening of Sinners.

"We know that Sinners was born from a deeply personal place, inspired by your uncle, a Mississippi native, who often played blues music and told you stories about Mississippi," Yarbrough wrote to Coogler.

"Just as your uncle's blues music and making this film lit a fire in you, we believe a visit to Clarksdale from you could light an even bigger one for the next generation."

It worked. The petition garnered thousands of signatures. The town's mayor joined the effort. And, eventually, Coogler got wind of the campaign.

On Thursday, the director, along with Sinners actor Miles Canton, composer Ludwig Göransson and others, were on hand for the first of six screenings at the Clarksdale Civic Auditorium, which Warner Brothers outfitted with a big screen, projector and sound system.

Local vendors and food trucks were on site, local musicians performed, and Coogler did a Q&A with the audience.

"We had a lot of emotions pouring out," Houston said. "We had a line all the way out around the building yesterday, and we're expecting the same thing today."

Shelby Simes arrived at 7 a.m. from nearby West Helena, Ark., earning first place in a line that had grown to hundreds by the time the doors opened a few hours later.

She said Sinners, which she had already seen seven times, was particularly important in an era where the U.S. President Donald Trump is actively silencing Black history in schools, targeting what he sees as "anti-American ideology."

Brandice Brown Williams, a theatre teacher, brought two of her students to the screening.

"Anytime that filmmakers take the time out to pay homage to the Delta, especially, because we're the root of music, the blues culture, that means a lot," Williams said.

During Thursday's screening, Coogler shouted out the people of Clarksdale for having the organizing skills and entrepreneurial spirit to bring the event to life.

"The thing that you guys have is a thing that can't be taught," he said.

The next day, Houston spoke to CBC Radio from Dooney's Barbershop, one of several Clarksdale businesses he runs. In the background, his customers, some of them musicians, were still buzzing about the previous evening.

One of them, blues singer Jaye Hammer, performed at the event, and even hopped on the phone with Köksal to croon for CBC listeners and plug his newest single, Turn This Party Out.

Houston says the town has fallen on hard times in recent years, but he knows Clarksdale is full of talent, and he believes the future looks bright.

"If we get the eye on Clarksdale, I think the people will invest," he said. "We're open for business."

With files from Reuters and The Associated Press. Interview with Dave Houston produced by Nishat Chowdhury.